Man commits suicide in front of Muni bus

August 30, 2010 1:39:16 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO --

A man who was fatally struck by a San Francisco bus Saturday night is believed to have committed suicide, a police spokesman said Monday.

Police received a report about 6:20 p.m. Saturday that a man had been struck by a bus operated by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. A police investigation revealed the man had committed suicide, police Sgt. Troy Dangerfield said.

The man has been identified as 43-year-old Stanley Madsen, a San Francisco resident, said Mark Powning, an investigator at the San Francisco medical examiner's office.

Powning added that Madsen's body has not yet been examined.

Madsen's body was still lying in the street about 7 p.m. Saturday covered by a blanket. His black shoes with white laces, which he was still wearing, were left exposed from the blanket just in front of the crosswalk at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue. Blood trailed from his body onto the pavement.

Joe Kimbro, a witness who was riding the bus at the time of the incident, said he saw the man lunge in front of the bus as it drove toward the bus stop on South Van Ness Avenue.

"He meant to do what he did. He dove," Kimbro said. He was sitting in a disabled seat in the bus when the incident happened.